Allianz logo (1977–99)

Allianz SE is a German financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. As of 2014, it is the world’s largest insurance company, the largest financial services group and the largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.

In 1977, Hans Jörg Dorschel simplified and softened the German imperial eagle from Karl Schulpig’s iconic 1923 logo and added a Schadow Black logotype. That very solid mark survived for 22 years until it was replaced with an even simpler eagle and — in my opinion — weaker lettering (below right).

Allianz logos: 1890, 1923, 1977, 1999. The current logo was drawn by Georg Salden. Claus Koch hired Gerard Unger to create several custom fonts for the company, but they do not appear to be the basis for the logotype.